Heroes & Ghosts

by SA Payne

  Heroes And Ghosts

  Part One:

  "What?" Kenichi nearly screeched but he drew a long breath and grabbed control of his voice.

  "What do you mean, you're turning your ship around?"

  Captain Josiah Harvick shrugged and scratched his chin. "The order just came across, all ships are forbidden access to Avalon space. If already in Avalon space they must proceed to the

  nearest port for grounding. I'm not in Avalon space."

  "Jos, come on, you're on our doorstep, you can be here in three hours! I can almost swim out to you, don't do this to me." Kenichi pleaded, clasping his hands in front of him to keep from balling them into fists.

  "Nothing personal, mate, you're my favorite bug doctor in the whole of the wide blackness here but an order is an order and I fly a clean ship." The older man shrugged. "I'll come back when the ban is lifted. A week, two, maybe three until all this mess settles down, swear."

  "Wait, you can't, surely we can work something out?"

  "Sorry, mate, see you in a bit." The screen flicked off and went to it's generic image of a sunny field of flowers.

  Kenichi stood in the center of the main control room and tried not to swear. He really didn't

  believe in swearing but a year's worth of planning had just been shut down. After a few more

  slow, steadying breaths, when he was fairly sure he could speak without sounding like a cat with

  it's tail stepped on, he went to the only person that might be able to get Jos' ship back.

  The door opened to the smallish lab, larger than his own but he worked by himself. The lights

  were bright and the two doctors were perched on stools intently studying the scrolling results of

  some analysis.

  "Don't even start with me, Ichi." The female of the pair spoke as the door opened, her blue eyes not even leaving the screen they were watching.

  "Amanda..."

  "Don't!" She warned and she pointed to a line in the information. "See, there, that's what I noticed."

  "Huh." The man, William, nodded and leaned forward to peer more closely at the small print.

  "Hey, Ichi."

  "Will." Ichi nodded, remembering his manners. "Amanda..."

  "No, look, you knew the risks when you signed up here. I'm sorry, this mess with the Flossin

  Guard is too dangerous, too messy, to take any risks. I agree with home, we need to shut down

  our skies for a while." She sighed and turned to study one of their closest friends, which was saying something given that the station only had seventeen members and Ichi wasn't from

  Avalon.

  "But, he's three hours away, another ten minutes and he'd be headed our way."

  "And he'd be grounded here with no way of leaving, he's an independent contractor, he needs

  this job, he can't afford to break the rules, Ichi. Don't worry, you'll get your vacation."

  > "No, you don't understand, my work..." He sighed at her raised eyebrow. "I can't just up and go later, I was supposed to speak at the conference next week."

  "So, give it over the vid, you'll get the credit."

  "It's just, please Amanda."

  "No, look, Flossin Guard nearly took out Jake's whole station, we're in lock down until this can be resolved. No debate, no exceptions, we can't take risks, you of all people know the things we

  work on here. Avalon's space has a half dozen stations like ours, it's too risky."

  He ran a hand through his dark hair and tried to find a logical debate that might get her to

  change her mind. "I've put almost a year into planning this. I've a lot of money tied up in

  deposits. I was supposed to go from the conference to spend the rest of the month on the beach

  drinking fruity drinks and getting a tan."

  "Avalon will reimburse you for any lost expenses, you know that."

  "He means he's a three week stay at Xerolousia planned and he's horny." Will chuckled and froze the code on the screen and glanced to the now blushing entomologist.

  "It's not..." He tried to protest but the couple had a knowing look on their face. "Alright, fine, happy? God, I'm only human. I haven't left this station in almost three years and in case you

  failed to notice I'm sort of isolated here."

  Amanda grinned, knowing every one of the stations five single females would happily tumbled the charmingly nerdish scientist into bed and equally knowing he had no interest in women. "Tell you what, I'll loan you Will for the night." She grinned at her husband.

  "You will?" He sat up straighter. "Am I being pimped out?"

  "The two of you should go do whatever it is you two do when you're up all night." As the de facto leader of the station, she wasn't supposed to know about the still that had been set up. She just

  pretended the home brew just magically appeared.

  Ichi sighed and shook his head. "I guess I'm unpacking."

  "I'll be over in about an hour." Will offered, trying to make it sound friendly and supportive but if it soothed Ichi's disappointment any he didn't see it.

  The door shut behind their friend. "That made me feel like a heel, poor Ichi. You should blow him just for mercy's sake."

  "Down woman!" Will laughed. "You know brunettes aren't my type." He slid over and wrapped his arms around his wife's waist. "I like red heads." He whispered, nuzzling his face to the nape of her neck where red springy curls the color of fall pumpkins had sprung loose.

  "Tuk tuk tuk, tuk tuk tuk." Ichi clucked at the secure box full of bugs and they swarmed over to the nearest layer of clear, very thick polymer. They instantly started clucking back at him and

  jostling each other to be closest to the drop chute. "Oh, who's the piggy beetles? Who's my baby piggys?"

  "You're a strange man, Ichi." Will tossed out, standing across the small, secure lab from the boxes of secure, very deadly insects. Frankly, he didn't like bugs much but he wasn't squeamish

  about them and still, seeing how they responded to Ichi made his skin crawl a little bit.

  "They're smarter than people think. Hive minds, they're amazing." He was proud of the swarm,

  he was the only person, anywhere, to successfully keep a swarm alive and healthy in captivity.

  "Trillions are notoriously difficult to keep but we know so little about them." He tapped on his side of the window and chuckled as the carnivorous bugs swarmed for his finger.

  "Yeah, cause they keep eating their keepers." He swallowed bile as he knew what was coming. "I can't lie and say I'm sorry you're staying on board, I wasn't looking forward to feeding your children."

  "You're too sentimental, Will." Ichi moved to the crate in the corner and pulled out three slender cylinders. He popped the latches on them and one by one they slid open. The storage gel

  evaporated at the contact with the air and he pulled out the feeder rats. "Those scientists were stupid and lazy, there's no way this swarm can get out, or me, in." He clucked again as he

  dropped the rat into the feeder chute and started it cycling. The device of his own design would

  move the rat into and out of four chambers before dumping it into the main box.

  "Ugh, even knowing, that grosses me out. Didn't you ever have a real pet as a child?" Ichi was just so clinical, so cold. It always amazed Will, he was from Avalon, nothing was ever too cold or

  clinical there.

  "Hmmm?" Ichi hummed and watched the mindless rat be moved closer to the hungry swarm.

  "It's

  no different than the tissue samples you order in. The rat's heart beats, it breaths, but it feels

  nothing, it has no brain. The brainstems are fascinating, so underdeveloped to nearly be useless.

  That's why I only orde
r from PETS, they take great care in their feeder stock." The system cycled and the rat dropped into the main container. The swarm was instantly on it and started it's hour

  long meal. "And for your information, I had a cat as a child." He frowned as he turned back to where Will hovered at the far side of his lab. "Thing didn't like me much." He picked up the remaining two alive but not really, feeder rats and dropped them into other chutes to feed other

  deadly, hungry insects.

  The sight of the swarm gathering on the brainless, lifeless rat churned Will's stomach and he

  scooped up the advertisement flyer from the PETS feeder rat box to scroll through it. P.E.T.S.

  Perfectly Ethical Transformation Solutions your source for all your needs, scrolled across the top

  as a happily illustrated woman guided him to select from the menu of options. It ranged from

  tissue samples, plant as well as animal and human to the feeders. Simply for distraction he

  pulled up the files on the rats and studied the very empty, fluid filled brain cavity. That was a

  little too close to the current situation and while Ichi could watch the careful, slow, consumption of the offered meal, Will tried not to.

  "Companions?" He pulled up the final listing. "Huh, I didn't know they were the same PETS." The options for grown human companions, specially made to accommodate any needs and with the

  intelligence of a dim witted dog, as well as their line of artificial life sized dolls, scrolled across the flyer.

  Ichi turned and pulled the flyer from his friends hand. "Sadly, yes, don't even suggest it."

  "I'd never suggest it, why should we mail order you a pretty young man when you'd only feed him to your pets." Will teased.

  Only Ichi wasn't laughing, the idea that he'd maybe be able to order a human grown without a

  brain to feed to his swarm set his mind to whirling. "That's not a bad idea, a custom order,

  wonder how long it would take a swarm this size..."

  "Ichi!"

  "Kidding, kidding, of course, the cost of the human companions are just outrageous I couldn't

  afford it and besides, they consider each one a work of art. They'd never make me one to feed to

  a swarm." But he glanced over his shoulder at the clicking, chirping beetles and sighed. "Mores the pity."

  "Are you done now?"

  Ichi nodded.

  "Good, let's go get drunk." He tossed an arm around his friends shoulders and guided him out of the lab.

  "You know, I never drank until I came here. The stories are all true, everyone from Avalon are alcoholics." It was a weak protest since he'd learned to drink almost as easily as his station mates.

  "That's because everyone from Kakurega are monks and have sticks up their asses. You should

  thank us for showing you the grand zests of life and the joys of home brew." The ongoing debate was friendly, each mocked the other's home lightly and without malice. "You should come see

  Avalon with me, I'll show you around. We've plenty of handsome men inclined your way. Cute

  fellow like you? We'll get you laid in no time."

  "I don't..." He sputtered. "I'm not looking to get laid."

  "Blown, laid, whatever you want, we'll find it."

  "Will!"

  He was laughing now, gently, at the blush creeping across his friend's face. The man was far too

  prudish and it was one more wall Will was set to tear down. "Come, let's get you drunk. That's the only way I ever win at cards against you."

  It was hours later, and Will with less money to his name, when they staggered back to Ichi's set

  of rooms. He was leaning heavily on his friend, who was still far too sober for his liking, and

  clutching a bottle of the clear, flavorful alcohol.

  "A royal flush, a royal flush! You're the luckiest bastard I've ever met. I had a straight flush, man, I thought for sure I had you."

  Ichi got his room door open and let his friend stagger in. It was a nice set of rooms, nothing fancy by any means but the small kitchen was a rarity on Avalon designed and built stations. They

  tended to assume everyone was like them and wanted to gather in a communal kitchen for

  meals. Someone had thought ahead to the tiny size of the station and planned that occasionally

  privacy might be sought.

  Ichi was grateful for it. As much as he'd grown to care for his station mates, there were times

  when the loud, cheerful, vibrant people really got on his nerves and all he wanted was a quiet

  meal, alone. That and his choice of foods rarely showed up on the communal kitchen's menu.

  That meant that his living room was just an open space with a narrow table shoved along a wall

  and a small kitchen placed near by. He had a sofa, soft and big enough for three that rarely got

  used and a vid screen hung on the wall across from it. Except for letters or calls home, which

  weren't frequent, he rarely turned it on.

  The first thing Will did, once the bottle was safely secured on the small side table by the sofa,

  was to turn the screen on, find a channel with softer music and shattered Ichi's preferred silence.

  The darker man sighed and moved to dig glasses from one of his cupboards, knowing if he

  didn't, Will would drink right from the bottle.

  "Seriously, Ichi, Amanda's cousin, you'd like him. He's a farmer so he's all tan and strong."

  "Let's not have this conversation."

  "Ah, not drunk enough I see!" He poured out the clear liquid into the glasses and pressed one into Ichi's hand. "You're almost family, you know, another year and we'll adopt you."

  "I don't want to be adopted."

  "Hush, of course you do! And family looks out for family." Will slurred drunkenly but there was something dark in his eyes.

  Ichi knew the look, most everyone from Avalon had it when they spoke of family. The Concord's

  invasion, occupation and than near annihilation of their small little colony had broken every

  family on the planet.

  Will dropped himself onto the sofa and downed another swallow. "We'll find you some sweaty

  man loving soon, don't you worry about it."

  "I'm not worried about it, it's just..." He was drunk to allow this conversation to continue but part of him really wanted to whine to someone.

  "Just what?" Will leaned over, squinted his eyes and than grinned. "You had a boyfriend meeting you!" He announced with certainty.

  "Don't do that!" Ichi scolded and sat with more reserve on the other end of the sofa.

  "Can't help it, I'm drunk and a level 22 psi, and you're horny as hell and disappointed about

  missing your meeting."

  Ichi grandfather had been a pioneer in the field of bio physics, he'd help design and create the

  standard test that was now used to judge and rank a human's psychic skills. It was a field of

  science that was half mysticism and required either raw, inborn gifts or near mystical genus for

  mathematics. Ichi had neither and the field of bio physics simply confused him.

  He was happy knowing the basics, that most of humanity, over 95 percent of them, tested as flat

  line, base zero, for psychic skills. Ichi's grandfather had given long winded lectures to attempt to explain that a zero was just human standard. That it included a mother who knew her child was

  lost or hurt and the person that knew to check in on a friend that they hadn't spoken to in a while only to find out the friend was in a rough patch in their lives. His grandfather had debated that all humans had some base psychic attunement but that a rare few spiked higher.

  Ichi was a solid, dead on, flat line. He was happy with that. His life was complex enough without

  anything extra. He liked knowing the world was solid and real and definable. However, the vast

  majority of the people from Avalon
were not flat lines. Seventy four percent of the population

  showed a ranking of over five, adding in those five and under and the number jumped up to an

  astounding ninety nine percent.

  While it was almost unheard of in the general population for a human to have a psi rate of over

  twenty, it wasn't uncommon on Avalon. In fact, while a rating over twenty was extremely rare,

  statistically improbable, in the general population, it happened often enough on Avalon to attract

  little notice. Ichi's grandfather had spent years trying to learn why.

  Until the flaws in the Network drive system turned their study focus around. The Network drive

  was amazing, it let humanity cross vast distances faster than ever before. Ichi was like most

  people, his field of study wasn't advanced inter-dimensional physics so his understanding of the

  Network drive was limited. It didn't bother him any the same way when he turned the lights on in

  his room and the room lit up but he didn't bother worrying about the complex wiring that allowed

  it.

  He knew what anyone did, it cut travel times down to manage amounts and the original Network

  drive was flawed. It had worked, yes, but it had also worn holes into the very fabric of

  dimensional space. As scary as that sounded, it wasn't that big of a deal, those worn patches re-

  wove in short order but sometimes, before they could, something got through. Something that

  tore entire crews apart and left ships floating morgues with only babbling nonsense about

  demons and monsters on the ship's log.

  Bio-physics was the first to understand and find a solution. Ichi's grandfather's research had

  taken a turn from understanding the why's of human population to the why's of inter-dimensional

  beings. Termed `Demons' by the general population, it was his grandfather's research team that

  first learned these creatures fed on human emotional energy and once fed, soon became strong

  enough to manifest a physical shape. It was his grandfather's team that first learned that some of

  the stronger psis were not only able to sense but manipulate the Demon's energy fields and so

  effectively combat and remove them. It was shortly after that when his grandfather and his entire team had been found torn into parts too small to identify by the creatures he had been